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PRIMARY GOAL
Pope Presses For Lay
Liturgy Participation
(The following article is the
seventh in a series on the broad
reforms in the public worship
of the Church enacted by the
ecumenical council. The aut
hor, an official council expert,
is a professor of canon law at
the Catholic University of
the Catholic University of
America and the immediate
past president of the North
American Liturgical Confe
rence.)
BY FATHER FREDERICK R.
mcmanus
(N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE)
Pope Paul VI in bringing in
to force the ecumenical coun
cil's Constitution on the Liturgy
has made active and under
standing congregational parti
cipation in worship a primary
goal.
Of the consitituion's 130 sec
tions, the first one singled out
by the Pope for immediate act
ion and application is Article
19:
“WITH ZEAL and patience,
pastors of souls must promote
the liturgical instruction of the
faithful, and also their active
participation in the liturgy both
internally and externally, tak
ing into account their age and
condition, their way of life, and
standard of religious culture.
By so doing, pastors will be
fulfilling one of the chief duties
of a faithful dispenser of the
mysteries of God; and in this
matter they must lead their
flock not only in word but also
by example.”
1964, the first Sunday of Lent.
At the same time it was evi
dent that many of the council's
decisions would have to be de
layed still longer—chiefly be
cause they depend upon the re
vision of services, texts, pray
ers, etc.
Most of parts of the consti
tution which must wait further
and specific action are evident
enough. For example, the bis
hops decided that during Mass
“a more representative portion
of the holy Scriptures will be
read to the people in the course
of a prescribed number of
years,” that is, in a kind of
cycle.
OBVIOUSLY, THIS provision
cannot take effect until new lec-
tionaries and altar missals are
prepared and published. To
clairfy any doubts and to make
sure that the liturgical rene
wal goes ahead without delay,
Pope Paul's Jan. 25 instruct
ion deals with several matters;
(1) Begging “all Christians
and particularly all priests” to
study the text of the constitu
tion, the Holy Father urged bis
hops and pastors in the strong
est terms to teach the people
how to take part in the Church’s
worship, with an understanding
of its “strength and inner val
ue.”
(2) Next Pope Paul set up a
special commission to carry
out the council's decisions—
particularly by revising the
service books, such as the al
tar missal and ritual. Plans for
These words sum up the Sec
ond Vatican Council’s rules for
“the promotion of liturgical in
struction and active participat
ion.” And they were given first
place in Pope Paul’s document
of Jan. 25, 1964, on carrying out
the council’s plans. “By the
very nature of things” the dire
ctions for liturgical education
and participation “come into
force immediately.”
WHEN THE Constitution on
the Liturgy was promulgated on
Dec, 4, 1963, at the public ses
sion which closed the second
session of the council, a date
was set for its regulations to
become effective and universal
law of the Church: Feb. 16,
Office Equipment
this commission are found in
the constitution itself; “The
liturgical books,” says the
council, “are to be revised as
soon as possible; experts are
to be employed on the task, and
bishops are to be consulted,
from various parts of the
world.”
(3) Finally the Pope settled
specific questions and in a few
cases anticipated the reform of
rites and services: Immediate
permission to celebrate the
sacraments of Confirmation
and Matrimony during Mass—
with special provision for Scri
pture readings and the nuptial
blessing even at marriages
celebrated apart from Mass;
permission to suppress parts
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of the daily office of prayer,
in the case of those bound to
pray the officer without waiping
for the revised texts.
SOME SPECIFIC directions
given by the Pope insist on more
serious steps to be taken with
out delay:
• Establishment of diocesan
liturgical commissions to pro
mote understanding and active
participation in public worship
by the people;
• the homily preached at
Mass in which “the mysteries
of the Faith and the guiding
principles of the Chris
tian life are expounded from
the sacred text” —recom
mended by the council as a part
of any and every Mass—requir
ed, as of Feb. 16, at every Sun
day and holy day Mass when a
congregation is present;
• the teaching of the liturgy
in seminaries and similar in
stitutions, to be revised ac
cording to the council's legis
lation.
BECAUSE THE Second Vat
ican Council has not yet dete
rmined with precision the role
of “episcopal conferences” or
bodies of bishops in the diff
erent countries, the Jan. 25 do
cument of Pope Paul gives spe
cific rules; Such bodies, organ
ized on a national basis, must
Include all bishops of dioceses,
and may include coadjutor and
auxiliary bishops. The enact
ment of decrees requires a
two-thirds vote by secret bal
lot.
The importance of this rule
lies in the authority conferred
by the council itself upon such
bodies of bishops in liturgical
matters, especially in the
introduction of the vernacular
languages into the liturgy. A
new papal directive is added,
that translations of Latin litur
gical texts are to be submitted
to Rome for approval.
IT IS ONLY natural that most
attention should be concentrat
ed upon future reforms, upon
the commission set up to re
vise the rite of Mass and the
sacraments, and upon the few
changes which become effective
without delay. Dramatic chan
ges catch the eye; it is all the
harder to propose, as Pope Paul
and the other bishops have done,
the broad program of study,
instruction, education and for
mation.
Just as there is no waiting
period before the council’s doc
trine or teaching about the lit
urgy becomes official or effect
ive, so Pope Paul’s first point,
even before setting up the com
mission for liturgical reform,
is the need for training and con
gregational participation that is
both interior and exteriorly ex
pressed.
IF ANY SPECIFIC norm is
the key to the others, it is the
insistence that Articles 15, 16,
17, of the constitution be put in
to effect immediately— that
seminary programs be revised
for the next scholastic year.
The council has called for a
through reappraisal of the
teaching of dogmatic theology,
Scripture, spiritual theology,
and pastoral theology—all to be
unified in the exposition of the
mystery of Christ and the his
tory of salvation” which is ce
lebrated in Christian worship.
The liturgy, which is faith in
action, is to have new empha
sis in the seminary program of
studies and in the seminary life
of prayer.
ALL THIS stems from the
council’s recognition that “it
would be futile to entertain any
hopes of realizing” its pur
poses “unless the pastors
themselves, in the first place,
become thoroughly imbued with
the spirit and power of the lit—
rugy, and undertake to give in
struction about it.”
Irrespective of reforms and
changes yet to come, the im
mediate need is education and
participation — beginning with
“priests, both secular and re
ligious, who are already work
ing in the Lord's vineyard” and
with candidates for the priest
hood in seminaries and other
places of study.
ONLY THIS can bring to pass
the high hopes of the Church, as
expressed by the Pope and by
ail the bishops: "Participation
by the Christian people as ‘a
chosen race, a royal priest
hood, a holy nation, a redeem
ed people’ (1 Peter 2:9; cf.
2: 4-5) is their right and duty
by reason of their Baptism.”
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE 3
MEMBERS OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY JUNIOR CRUSADERS Civics Club of Our Lady’s Day
School, Atlanta, are shown working on their club project for the sick and the poor. The club has
recently received its official charter from the Commission on American Citizenship in Washington,
D. C.
JESUIT PREDICTS
New Techniques Will Soon
End Birth Control Battle
ST. LOUIS (NC)— ‘The con
flict over birth control will be
over in five years, maybe even
in two years,” an English aut
hor and expert on population,
poverty and marriage predicted
here.
Father Arthur McCormack, a
Mill Hill Father visiting in St.
Louis, said in an interview that
science is so near to perfect
ing ways to detect—and even to
anticipate— fertile periods in
women that birth prevention de
vices and chemicals will soon
be out-of-date.
IN FACT, HE said, “In the
next few years contraceptives
will be achieved by two major
methods throughout the world-
rhythm and “the pill.” Both
rhythm and the pill, said Fat
her McCormack, will be per
fected to the point that they’ll
revolutionize the whole contro
versial area of family planning
and population control.
Father McCormack said that
methods of perfecting the rhyt
hm method “are in the labora
tories and have gone even furt
her.” Medicine and science are
working on several systems,
but their aim is the same: to
devise a simple, easy, cheap,
and acceptable way to detect the
time when a woman is likely to
conceive.
THIS SCEINTIFIC develop
ment would even find ways to
anticipate with certainty the
time of ovulation in women,
Father McCormack said. A
SCHOOL ISSUE
couple would then know ahead of
time when to expect ovulation to
occur.
Among the scelntific methods
being developed are a simply
administered urine test or an
even more simple saliva test.
ANOTHER SYSTEM being
worked on, said the priest, is
electronic. He described this
as a minute transistor capsule
that would reveal the status of
a woman's ovulation cycle by
measuring normal body act
ions. The capsule would in
dicate other body functions.
Father McCormack is pro
fessor-elect of pastoral theo
logy at the general motherhouse
of the Mill Hill Fathers in Lon
don. Mill Hill has houses in
United States cities, including
St. Louis.
THE PRIEST IS the author
of the book “World Poverty and
the Christian, “and is the edi
tor of “Christian Responsibi
lity and World Poverty” and a
new book, “Poverty and Popu
lation.”
As to the much-publicized
"pill,” an oral tablet for re
gulating ovulation cycles, Fat
her McCormack said it has
“Quite good uses besides as a
contraceptive.” He predicted
that it too will be improved by
science, so that its theraputic
uses will become more import
ant to allowing a married couple
to use it as an aid to family
planning, but not as a contra
ceptive.
FATHER McCORMACK ple
aded for more responsible dis
cussion of the whole general
area of population and birth
control. He said misunder
standings and exploitation have
prevented a balanced view of
the subjects.
“We don't pay enough attent
ion to the responsibilities of
sex,” he said. "We have neg
lected to concentrate on the
beautiful doctrine of love in a
marriage.
“BIRTH CONTROL is not the
only sin you can commit in
marriage. It is as great a sin
to be selfish and not loving
enough,” he said.
He stressed that the determ
ination of size for a family is
up to the parents. “Thenumber
of children per family is now a
matter of personal, respon
sible, religiously - oriented
choice by the parents alone. No
doctor or priest has a right to
lnterfer in this intimate mat
ter,” he said.
FATHER McCORMACK not
ed that the discovery of new and
widely acceptable methods of
family planning could make the
subject of birth control for un
derdeveloped nations with large
and expanding populations “a
dead issue.”
He warned of a danger that
“doctrinaire family planners”
will seek to exploit population
problems for their own ends.
But he also said: “I do not
see how the Catholic Church
will be able to hold out against
the pressures for much longer
in international programs. I do
not think that the Church is
bound to have an all-out campa
ign against such moves.”
Priests Jeered
By Racist Mob
CATHEDRAL CEREMONIES
Boy Scout Week
Starts Tomorrow
Scout Week, marking the 54th
Anniversary of the Boy Scouts
of America, will be observed
from Friday, Feb. 7, through
Thursday, Feb. 13 by the At
lanta Area Council. On Feb. 8,
Anniversary Day, all Scouts and
Scouters in the Council will re
dedicate themselves to the
ideals of Scouting. Exhibits and
demonstrations of Scout craft
will be held at Lenox Square,
Cobb Center andStewart-Lake-
wood Shopping Center.
outs, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire
Girls are invited to attend the
sixth annual dedication and
award ceremonies at the Cath
edral of Christ the King on Sun
day, Feb. 9. The procession in
to the Cathedral will begin pro
mptly at 2:30 pm. Because of
space limitations the ceremony
is restricted to those above
Cubs, Bluebirds and Brownies.
Refreshments will be served in
the auditorium by theCadetsof
Christ the King.
Feb. 9 is Scout Sunday and
Scouts are encouraged to attend
their own churches with their
parents. It is also Sabin Oral
Sunday and Scouts are cooper
ating by reporting to assigned
schools to direct foot traffic.
In the Archdiocese Boy Sc-
D eachtree Road
Pharmacy
Pick Up and Delivery
Service
Call CE 7-6466
4062 Peachtree Rd. Atlanta
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CLEVELAND (NC)—Twelve
priests tried unsuccessfully
here to quell a disorder-bent
mob of about 600 persons from
violence over a school racial
Issue.
The priests, along with po
licemen, were jeered and struck
with garbage thrown from the
crowd in the predominantly
Catholic “Little Italy” neigh
borhood.
THE CROWD, gathered to
protest integrationist pickets at
the neighborhood Murray Hill
Public School, also smashed
the windows of automobiles be
ing driven in the area by
Negroes . No pickets showed up.
Anticipating trouble in view
of violence the day before (Jan.
29) at Brett public school when
integration pickets appeared,
the priests appeared (Jan. 30)
in front of Murray Hill school
where the pickets had announ
ced they would march.
THE PRIESTS were gathered
by Father Anthony Gasbarre,
pastor of the neighborhood’s
Holy Rosary Catholic church,
and Father Vincent Hass, direc
tor of the Cleveland Catholic
Interracial Council.
The priests and neighborhood
civic leaders joined police in
moving through the crowd and
urging it to disband. But they
were ignored.
SOME MEMBERS of the
crowd went back into alleys and
dragged out garbage cans, hur
ling their contents at the police
and priests.
Father Gasbarre, whose
church is one block away from
the public school, had scheduled
the night before the picketing a
Holy Hour at 9:30 a.m., the hour
pickets from the “United Free
dom Movement” were to ap
pear.
PROBABLY BECAUSE there
was not time for advance notice,
less than 50 attended the Holy
Hour. To attract attention to it,
the bells on Holy Rosary tolled
several minutes before ina after
the Holy Hour, As the bells
were ringing, the mob got out of
control.
MARIST
A Military Day School for Boys
FULLY ACCREDITED • OPERATED BY MARIST FATHERS
ANNOUNCES
ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS
February 1st and 8th. Time: 8:45 A.M.
Openings in Grades 7* 8, 9, 10, 11
Call the Principal—457-7201 — for complete information